


An Unexpected Visit

by WaxRhapsodic



Series: You and I [8]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Abusive Parents, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Bribery, Bad Parenting, Charles-centric, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Erik Has Feelings, Erik is a Sweetheart, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Reunions, M/M, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Poor Charles, Protective Erik, Racism, anti-Semitism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-29 03:43:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15064376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaxRhapsodic/pseuds/WaxRhapsodic
Summary: Charles is alone with the babies one day when he gets and unexpected visitor from his past





	An Unexpected Visit

Charles looked up from putting the babies down for their nap. He frowned as another soft knock rang out on the thin door.

Who could be visiting at this time? The other mothers on the block were in similar positions as him and Erik was busy down at the docks at a part time job he’d picked up for extra money while they waited for their case to be read.

A twist of anxiety filled his belly as he pressed a hand to Anya’s belly, soothing her as she kicked out in her sleep.

It still amazed him how quickly the girls responded to his moods even while at rest. He liked it, like they were still connected somehow though they had been born fifteen months earlier.

Hands trembling for some reason he walked to the door and took a deep breath before opening it a crack to peer out.

He almost felt like he should have been more surprised to see Smith, his mothers private driver standing there in his livery and gloves. He barely noticed the man, eyes drawn to Sharon herself standing just to his left.

Instead this all felt rather inevitable.

“Mother,” he said for lack of anything else to say.

“Charles,” she replied, tone clipped and censorious. She was livid, though anyone who didn’t know her would never have realized it.

Her tone lit the spark on his own well of anger. He opened the door slightly more but didn’t invite either of them inside. It was the height of rudeness to keep her standing in the hall like a door to door salesman and he reveled in the pettiness of the gesture.

“What brings you here?” he asked conversationally. She pursed her lips and took a quick breath through her nose.

“Could we perhaps discuss this inside?” she asked smoothly.

He hesitated, considering whether or not he wanted to allow her into their home. He supposed there was no reason not to. If she’d found him here then she already knew the circumstances of his life.

“Of course,” he stepped aside and gestured for her to enter.

“Wait here,” she said dismissively to Smith who took up a position facing the hall to prevent anyone from entering or getting close enough to eaves drop.

Charles closed the door with a sigh to find his mother impassively looking at the small array of family photographs framed on the small dresser by the door. One of him and Erik, one of the girls at six months old, and one of the five of them together.

It had been an unnecessary expense but one well worth it to give Erik some sense of permanence in their tiny family unit.

“We need to be quiet, I just put the girls down for their nap,” he said into the silence. “May I offer you some tea?”

She wrinkled her nose in delicate distaste as she glanced around at their tiny home in revulsion, “No, thank you.”

That rankled so he cut to the chase, “then may I ask what you’re doing here?”

She patted her hair distractedly in a way that reminded him intensely of Emma when she was discomfited.  “We’ve received word of your _lawsuit_ ,” she said the word like it was an insult. “Clever of you to use your Father’s preferred law firm. I imagine they’re working the case to be paid after the verdict?”

He said nothing, still waiting to hear her reason for visiting in person.

“You look terrible; this is not the life I envisioned for you.” She exhaled a small sigh looking him over in obvious disappointment. “Kurt is livid, especially after your stunt with the car,” a flicker of amusement lit her face for a split second before vanishing like it had never been.

“I don’t know how well you keep up with the gossip pages out here but you’ve created _quite_ the scandal. The only way to wrap this up nicely would be to bring you back into the fold and move along as we always planned.”

Charles was shocked by her suggestion, “Excuse me?”

“Charles, there’s no need for years of trials and appeals when we can work out some kind of settlement that benefits everyone involved,” she said stiffly.

“You want me to _leave_ Erik and the girls? You want me to _abandon my family?_ ” he clarified, trying to make sense of what she was saying.

She grimaced at his words, “Marriages can be annulled, especially if there was force or coercion involved at any level. Yes, you’d have to leave the…fruits of your union behind, but a fund can be established for their upbringing and education. There are many families who would love to adopt them either together or apart,” she said succinctly.

Charles was enraged, “you expect me to send my husband to prison for forcing himself on me and to separate our children just to return to marry someone you and Kurt have chosen for me?” he scoffed, noting the irritated wrinkle that appeared on her forehead. “My answer is _no_ , **never**. How could you even _suggest it?_ I’m happy here mother, which is more than I can say for when I was still living with you. That said, you’ve over stayed your welcome.” He moved to open the door when a soft whimper echoed through the room. Likely one of the girls reacting to his mood change.

He turned back to see Sharon crossing the room to look down on the sleeping babies.

He strode to her side, angry to have her so near his girls when she wanted him to cast them aside for the promise of a loveless marriage and the cold comfort of money and land.

“I suppose they’re worth it to you,” she said softly turning her head to give him a searching look.

He flinched inside, knowing she didn’t love him and having her all but admit it were two very different things, “They’re worth everything to me,” he said shortly.

She sighed and pressed her cool hand to his cheek, looking at him for long moments in silence. It wouldn’t occur to him until years later that she’d been memorizing his face as if for the last time.

She pulled back and glanced down at the girls once more, “you’re so like your father. He was utterly devoted to you as an infant. It was quite the talk of the town, you know.” She said distantly as if lost in a memory.

Charles hadn’t known, but it was nice to hear nonetheless.

Sharon sighed, “you stand to inherit far more than you realize my dear. That’s why we were advised to make you an offer. It seems you’re well on your way to winning your case. Kurt is…not pleased with our legal team, but they assure us they’ve done everything in their power to win this. The law simply seems to be on your side,” she said with a Gallic shrug.

There was something Charles didn’t understand, “If you want me and therefore my father’s money to stay in the family so badly, why not offer to bring my family into the fold?”

Surely if the amount of money and property was enough to get the attention of both his mother and her husband, a son in law and three perfect little girls would be well worth it.

She looked at him like he’d gone stark raving mad, “Bring three bastards and a German Jew into the fold?” she gave a disbelieving laugh that burned like acid. “To paraphrase you ‘no, never. How could you even suggest it?’” She asked mockingly.

He tensed up, closer to slapping her than he’d ever been to harming anyone in his life. “Leave, _now._ ”

She sobered up and gave a grim little nod, “I rather suspected this would be your stance but I had to try. Goodbye Charles. And good luck with…everything,” she gestured disdainfully to their humble surroundings and headed to the door.

He followed her closely, eager to have her out of their home. He never should have let her in.

Just as she opened the door to step out, Erik came up the stairs with an armful of groceries. He squared his shoulders and narrowed his eyes at the liveried driver and the posh woman who could only be his mother in law. She looked too much like Charles to be anyone else.

For a brief moment she looked shocked to see him before she schooled her features into blank indifference.

Erik glanced at Charles who smirked at his mother’s reaction even as she walked away from her only child and exited the building without looking back. Smith followed close at her heels, tipping his hat to Erik as he slipped by.

Erik jogged to the door, just taking the time to set the groceries down before gathering Charles into a tight hug, pressing his face into his silky hair.

Charles shuddered in his arms, gasping for air like he’d just run a marathon. “Awful. She’s awful,” he whispered, voice clogged with tears.

“Your mother?” he clarified gently.

“Yes, that was my mother. Destroyer of lives,” he said grimly.

Erik’s heart broke for him, “come on, let’s get some tea in you and you can tell me what happened. And why she looked at me like she’d seen a ghost.”

He led Charles to one of the two seats at their scarred little table. Embarrassed to have his mother in law see how poorly he kept her son and grandchildren, though Charles never complained.

His husband grasped his hand as he turned to put the water on, stopping him in his tracks. “That one is easy. Your pictures don’t exactly do you justice.” He gave a tired laugh.

That was confusing, “you know I can’t hold a smile,” he said defensively.

“No I mean, she clearly wasn’t expecting to find you so attractive,” Charles thought back to her horrible words of just minutes before. “She must be mortified to have reacted to you so strongly,” he laughed again, this time verging on hysterical before he finally allowed his tears to fall.

Erik sat with him and held him close until the storm passed, whispering sweet nothings to him until he was soothed. “Tell me about it?” he finally asked into the silence once he’d prepared a cup of tea to Charles’ liking.

The smaller man cleared his throat with a bracing sip and gave his husband a tremulous smile, “Well, in a way it was good news…”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this installation in the series! I wanted to move thinks along and add a bit of drama! Tell me what you think! Thanks as always for reading!xx


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